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Polyphonwerke A.-G.

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German record company and manufacturer of records and mechanical devices for playing music, operating under this name from 1917 to 1932. At that point in time, the company had activities in numerous countries worldwide, including subsidiaries in Austria, Denmark, Sweden and France. Pholyphonwerke breaks into the Argentinean market in 1909 or 1910, through [l=Casa Tagini], which also dealt with American [l=Columbia] records. The first records are [l=Polyphon] series 20XXX, recorded 1909-1911, subsequent recording from 1913-1914 use the matrix 28XXX and are published by a large number of micro labels with no company credited. Labels: Premier Record - Apolo Record - [l=Arena-Record] - [l=Tocasolo Sin Rival] - Kronophon Records - Oro-phon - [l=Sonora (22)]. Casa Tagini also licensed it's repertoire to other stores such as [l=Relsie-Record]. Contact with the argentinian market breaks on the onset of WWI. [b]Timeline[/b]: 1887: Foundation of the company in Wahren, Leipzig, as [b]Firma Brachhausen & Riesener[/b] by Gustav Adolf Brachhausen and Ernst Paul Riessner for manufacturing their new Polyphon, the mechanical disc-playing music box invented in 1870. 1895: Renaming of the company to [b]Polyphon Musikwerke A.G.[/b] 1903: First manufacturing of cylinders following the Edison method. 1905: First manufacturing of shellac records released under the [l=Polyphon Record] label. 1908: Appointment of Hugo Wünsch as director. 8 September 1908: Registration of the [l=Polyphon] label as trademark. 2 April 1913: Establishment of the [l=Polydor] and [l=Polyphon Musik] labels. 1916: Establishment of Austrian subsidiary Polyphon Sprechmaschinen und Schallplatten GmbH (later renamed to [l=Polyphon Schallplatten Ges. mbH]) in Vienna. 24 April 1917: Acquisition of [l=Deutsche Grammophon-Aktiengesellschaft] in Hanover from the German government. At this occasion the name of the company is shortened to [b]Polyphonwerke A.-G.[/b]. 1918: Company headquarters moved to Markgrafenstraße 76 in Berlin and Bruno Borchard named general director, while Wünsch moves to Deutsche Grammophon-Aktiengesellschaft. 1920: Establishment of Danish subsidiary [l=Nordisk Polyphon Aktieselskab] in Copenhagen. 1921: Establishment of Swedish subsidiary [l=Nordiska Polyphon Aktiebolaget] in Stockholm. 1927: Establishment of French subsidiary [l=Société Phonographique Française Polydor S.A.] in Paris by the Danish and Swedish subsidiaries. 1927: Co-founding of [l=Brunswick Ltd.] in Britain together with American [l=The Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company]. 1927: Entering the Persian market. Recording 200 matrices in Baghdad and further 600 in Teheran. 1928: Founding of [l=Nippon Polydor Chikuonki Co., Ltd.] in Japan for the Asian markets. March 1930: Following the 1929 stock market crash, the Danish, Swedish, Austrian and French subsidiares are concentrated into Swiss holding company Polyphon-Holding AG. 1932: Polyphonwerke A.-G. takes over the liquidated [l=Deutsche Grammophon-Aktiengesellschaft] and continues under this name. The headquarters are moved from Berlin to Hanover. Polyphon-Holding AG is renamed to Polydor Holding AG. The production lines in Leipzig are shut down.